Moscow voters to give verdict on Putin reforms

Moscow goes to the polls tomorrow for local elections seen as a crucial test within the country's growing middle class for President Vladimir Putin's authoritarian style of "managed democracy".

Tensions have risen, with liberal democrats pledging protests if the vote is rigged, and the nationalist Rodina party angry at having been struck off the ballot because of an allegedly racist TV advert.

It is the first election in Moscow since the "orange revolution" in neighbouring Ukraine sparked a crisis of confidence in the Kremlin's orchestrated brand of democracy. Critics say the Kremlin controls nearly all TV news and dictates Russia's political scene, but that the population is growing restless.

"It is not so much an election as a referendum," said Grigori Yavlinski, leader of the liberal Yabloko party. Protests may follow the vote, he said.

Some analysts have said the democratic movement is no longer relevant to a middle class interested in the prosperity Mr Putin has delivered, not his politics. Dmitri Trenin, from the Carnegie Endowment in Moscow, said democratic reform would not stem from the dissident "liberal intelligentsia" that Mr Yavlinski represented but from a prosperous middle class who wanted a less corrupt government to boost their standard of living.

Rodina was struck from ballot papers because of a TV advert in which it advocated cleaning the "city's streets of rubbish", a veiled reference to immigrants who also appeared in the broadcast. They are urging supporters to spoil their ballots.

Thirty-five Moscow seats are up for grabs, with the pro-Putin United Russia expected to win a majority.

Sign up for the Guardian Today

Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning.